In the Judge’s Chambers – Tulsa State Fair Livestock Judge on What Makes a Champion Steer
Oklahoma Farm Report
Judging the Tulsa State Fair Market Steer Show this year is Dr. Mark Hoge, a professor at Western Illinois University and one of the leading livestock judges in the country. Farm Director Ron Hays caught up with Dr. Hoge at the fair to find out what exactly he is looking for when it comes to picking champions.
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NOAA finds cows, rice farms driving methane rise, not fossil fuels
Valerie Richardson
Washington Times
Editor’s note: Stories of this ilk are included in the blog to inform those in our industry how agriculture is being presented to and perceived by the public.
The Environmental Protection Agency may have overlooked the real culprits in its recent crackdown on methane emissions from fossil fuels: rice farmers and cows. A newly released study led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration attributed the increase in global atmospheric methane since 2007 to microbial sources, including rice paddies, livestock, decaying vegetation in wetlands, even termites, not fossil fuels.
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Store hay in location that minimizes losses
Rick Rasby
Angus Journal
High input costs and low calf prices will cause cow-calf producers to ratchet down their production systems to remain competitive. Even though the data suggest that low-cost cow-calf enterprises optimize grazing opportunities, there are situations where cows need to be fed harvested forages
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When in doubt, change that needle out
Heather Smith Thomas
Beef Magazine
“When vaccinating a group of cattle, it’s best to use a new one for each animal, but very few producers do this,” says George Barrington, a veterinarian with Agricultural Animal Clinic Services at Washington State University.
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Nutrition During Gestation and Fetal Programming
K.A. Vonnahme
University of Nebraska
Historically, considerable efforts have been made to understand how nutrition impacts health and productivity during the postnatal period. While maternal nutrition during pregnancy plays an essential role in proper fetal and placental development, less is known about how maternal nutrition impacts the health and productivity of the offspring.
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A new era in valuing calves, feeder cattle
Dr. Bob Hough
Western Livestock Journal
The objective evaluation of seedstock cattle through things like EPDs (expected progeny differences), indexes and genomics has been implemented for many years, but taking these same tools to help value feeder cattle is just starting to gain steam.
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Feedlot closure is part of bigger economic picture
D’arce Mcmillan
Western Producer
Livestock futures markets were slammed lower again last week with fed cattle and hogs each testing multi-year lows. There is just too much meat on the market — pork and beef. October live cattle futures fell to 98.900 cents per pound Sept. 30, the lowest point on a continuous chart since November 2010.
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Farmers adjust for low rain, cattle market
Ben Egel
Amarillo Globe News
As the corn harvest progresses through the end of October, Texas Panhandle farmers are feeling the pinch of a shrinking beef market and a dip below normal precipitation levels.
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Beef from Brazil to soon arrive in United States
Tri State Livestock News
Several news sources reported last week that two Brazilian meat companies have sent fresh beef to the United States. According to Reuters News Service, Brazilian meatpacker Marfrig Global Foods SA announced in mid September that it had shipped its first cargo of fresh beef to the United States.
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Cover crops for cattle add value
Brita Moore
Agri News
Imagine that leading up to Thanksgiving, you go on a restrictive diet and lose five pounds. Then, you gorge on Thanksgiving dinner and suddenly gain it all back — and more. It’s called compensatory gain. This idea isn’t very attractive for a human, but according to Eric Mousel of the University of Minnesota Beef Team, it works great for cattle, especially with cover crops.
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The Beef Blog 